Riding the wake of this media madness is Linda Bellos, a sex essentialist “radical feminist” who took to an eager national media platform to decry what she claimed to be “no-platforming” by a local student group who rescinded its speaking invitation to her after Bellos publicly mused over the ways she might physically beat a trans woman who disagreed with her. Bellos claimed that she would take her “glasses off and thump ’em!” She then went on to enthusiastically endorse violence against trans women:

I’m quite prepared to threaten violence because it seems to me that politically what they’re seeking to do is piss on all women. That’s what they’re doing for their personal gratifiacation. There aren’t many of them, but what really offends me is the extent to which academia and political parties have listened to them in a way that they’re not listening to us as women. – Linda Bellos

This, then, is a moral issue for Bellos. She clearly believes that a cabal of powerful non-authentic women is, for reasons of personal gratification, silencing authentic women, whom, like herself, are not infrequently featured in international news media sources decrying their lack of free speech and platforms. Against this trans conspiracy, Bellos has pledged a “violent” response.

Violent responses are not to be taken lightly from the likes of Bellos, an admitted arsonist. As part of a 1970s-era group calling themselves Women Against Violence Against Women (dubbed, “Angry Women” by the UK press), Bellos says she would conduct “impact assessments to ensure that no lives were lost or people hurt” before fire-bombing sex shops. In total, Bellos’ group targeted at least 25 sex shops causing around half a million pounds (around £1,975,000, adjusted for inflation) in the early 1980s. Interviews of group members revealed that their members knew they were “joining a group to take direct action, probably in the form of arson attacks, and that this inevitably involved the destruction of property – a criminal activity.” Interviews from the time reveal their meticulous planning:

As far as organizing our attacks went, we ensured that we knew what each of our roles was going to be, and we prepared ourselves with alibis. Our principal concern was that there should be nobody on the premises that were going to be attacked. We took great precautions to assure ourselves of this: we watched buildings, sometimes for as long as three months, often weekly, sometimes daily, to establish patterns of the comings and goings to see if the curtains had moved and if there was anybody on the premises at night. We were also vigilant about policing patterns in the area. It’s surprising, but there are an awful lot of people around at night, even in small towns!

For the attack itself, we would wear very dark clothing, cover our faces with balaclavas or hats, and take only what we needed. Depending on the location, we would either travel in one or two cars (some of which we hired or stole), and always in pairs. Once we had finished what we started out to do, it was home and a hot bath to get rid of the smell and any remnants that would point to our activity […] We knew we were breaking the law, in fact, several laws – criminal damage, arson, conspiracy, endangering life…

Daily Mail

Now, let’s look at the way the UK press is representing a threat of physical violence from an admitted arsonist whom, in the past, knowingly endangered life in pursuit of her politics:

During her address to Peterhouse College, Bellos told organisers she planned to publicly question “some of the trans politics … which seems to assert the power of those who were previously designated male to tell lesbians, and especially lesbian feminists, what to say and what to think”. In response, a representative of the Beard Society responded: “I’m sorry but we’ve decided not to host you. I too believe in freedom of expression, however Peterhouse is as much a home as it is a college. The welfare of our students in this instance has to come first.”

Regardless of your views on gender, Bellos speaking at Cambridge University in no way compromises the welfare of its students. It is ludicrous to claim that someone who has committed her adult life to liberation politics is a risk to the wellbeing of those who listen to her perspective – and deeply insulting. Black, female, Jewish and lesbian feminist, Bellos is not exactly a preacher of hate. – theguardian.com

Missing from these reports are the arsonist’s credible threats of violence. In the wake of this false reporting, the students who withdrew Bellos’ speaking invitation are facing possible legal action because “student zealots” and “snowflake students” are “stifling open debate.”

The Goal of the “Trans Debate” is Trans Erasure

What follows is an excellent analysis of the so-called “trans debate” happening within UK’s media culture:

The cat is finally out of the bag. The tightly-linked, but a deliberately opaque group of transphobes and trans-haters largely associated with a shady group calling itself “A Woman’s Place,” has revealed its true aim. And it is not the aim that it tells us it wants.

Transphobes Exploiting Feminism as an Alibi for Hate (or “TEFAHs” as I call them) have consistently, and dishonesty, told everyone that they just want a “debate” about whether trans people have the right to exist. Their crowdfunding to take the Labour Party to court to purge trans women from all-women shortlists have exposed this as a lie, once and for all. These groups, of largely anonymous individuals, have demonstrated what trans people have known for a long time; namely that they do not want any “debate” whatsoever.

The way trans people have been specifically excluded from the “debate” in the right-wing mainstream media since September, has demonstrated what real “no-platforming” looks like. And while these groups of supposedly “left-wing” transphobes attempt to exclude trans people from discussing trans people within the Labour Party they work hand-in-glove with neoliberal right-wing media operations like Murdoch’s Times and Viscount Rothermere’s Daily Mail producing Trump-like hatred of trans people.

This TEFAH movement to exclude trans people from a debate about trans people is now explicit; they have submitted motions to Constituency Labour Parties which are clear; they want cisgender women to be the sole arbiters of what rights trans people should have, and trans people should be excluded from this. Their motions argue for these decisions to be the sole preserve of women’s groups but not trans people, LGBT Labour or any other group of trans people. However, it is not merely the content of these motions that is deliberately exclusionary, the way the TEFAH’s are going about this is also exclusionary; these motions are often submitted in such a way that trans people cannot respond until it has become a fait accompli. If there are no trans members of a particular CLP, or if they are not aware these motions are being proposed, trans people are effectively excluded from these debate about trans people.

So while their claim to want a debate has obviously been dishonest from the start, fundraising to take Labour to court has finally made this unambiguously explicit. Whatever they do, whatever they say, this group of transphobes and haters do not want any kind of “debate.” Indeed their main strategy is to exclude trans people from any discussion of trans people, whether that be on a national level in the right-wing mainstream media or within the Labour Party itself. Whatever they claim, they do not want a “debate,” in fact, they want the opposite, they want to close any debate down, and their actions have demonstrated this unambiguously. The Labour Party needs to treat those engaged in these attempts to shut down debate appropriately.

Let us be clear about what is being debated: the erasure of trans women. Moreover, let’s stop pretending that the “trans debate” is nothing more than a well-known debate tactic called, “Just Asking Questions.” There is no ‘transgender question’ that needs to be debated; what needs to be debated is a UK cis media, that already has trans blood on its hands, actively covering up, minimizing, and misrepresenting Bellos’ explicit endorsement of anti-trans violence by representing the fear of anti-trans violence as “a growing culture of snowflake students stifling open debate.”

Tip this TransAdvocate!

Writers for the TransAdvocate work hard to bring you news and commentary. If you found this article meaningful, let the author know that you appreciate the work they do with a tip!

Share this:

Cristan Williams is a trans historian and pioneer in addressing the practical needs of the transgender community. She started the first trans homeless shelter in the South and co-founded the first federally funded trans-only homeless program, pioneered affordable healthcare for trans people in the Houston area, won the right for trans people to change their gender on Texas ID prior to surgery, started numerous trans social service programs and founded the Transgender Center as well as the Transgender Archives. Cristan is the editor at the social justice sites TransAdvocate.com and TheTERFs.com, is a long-term member and previous chair of the City of Houston HIV Prevention Planning Group.

Well an ugly woman who looks like a man ranting against Trans-women? This is becoming Cliche!

Shell Koleva

I am stopping reading it on “pissing on women”, really?! Is that he argument, when TERF are pissing on women constantly, by allying themselves with sexists and patriarchal men, use their tools and bring back the women’s right movement constantly, by barking against trans women?
This is really, really, really “pissing”!

The reality is that TERF’s love to their genitals is so overwhelming, than our own! Their complexes and issues are more overwhelming than ours! And the only think they can do is to challenge us, because we are easy target, while sexism, rape, patriarchal values are too BIG for them…

I respect women! I believe that every woman could be strong, independent, intelligent without losing her womanhood’s caring for the person they love (not definitely a man), charm and femininity, despite the fact that women are more than that! But TERF, they are not women! They are mix of evil, low-self esteem, and simple hate! This is immoral? To harm people because you are insecure and you know that most of the time they are defenseless.

Disgusting!

Christine

Simple question, though I understand the answer may be more complicated: How do you know when you feel like a member of the opposite sex? Seriously. I am still curious.

It’s none of my business if someone wants to change his or her sex, as long as public money isn’t being spent on operations, as long as sex offenders who happen to be transwomen aren’t housed in women’s prisons, and as long as transmen have a place they can go to the washroom without getting bullied/beaten/raped.

The tide of history seems to be with the trans movement, so it is a bit of a mystery to me why transactivists are so vociferous in their takedowns of radical feminists — sorry, but radical feminists are a lot more marginalized than transgender folks these days. We are not an existential threat to anyone. I think you should be more focused on the people who actually hate trans people (and women, BTW).

ChloeAlexa Landry

You do not understand many things, especially without any knowledge, of Trans people. You write: “We are not an existential threat to anyone.” So what really is your problem, with Trans people?? It’s a birth anomaly, where we have the female brain of conception, and when the cues for the body came down, it missed the brain.

Christine

Correct, I don’t understand! Neither did I intend any offence.

From TransAdvocate101: “Bodies and reproduction are material realities; one’s thoughts about those realities is gender.”

I agree that gender is not a material reality, and this is what causes me cognitive dissonance: I don’t understand how our grey matter could be gendered. How did the birth of your sister convince you that your brain was female? How would I recognize the signs if I should really be living as a man?

Perhaps these questions are too personal for a public forum. But cisgender people are not in a position to explain how their brains match their bodies, because it is clearly not an issue for them (or if it is, they’re in denial), so I am on the lookout for transpeople who are willing to really break it down.

LMAO now I’m kinda jealous I didn’t write this… would love to hear more about the TERF theory whispered on r/GenderCritical about how I’m really a vampire or “identify as a vampire” or whatever that was going around based on my last article. Real head scratcher.

Willow

You have selectively edited the quote. She starts by saying “If any of those bastards come near me”. ‘Those bastards’ refers to three people who previously violently attacked Maria MacLachlan at speakers corner. Maria had just spoken about it prior to Linda’s speech. She is clearly talking about acting in self defence which would have been clear to everyone in the room having just heard Maria talk. There is nothing unreasonable about acting in self defence when attacked.

To edit the quote and twist her meaning is irresponsible and despicable.

While I’d love to see full videos –from various perspectives– from the across-the-way jump-cut video explainer video I saw, it does indeed look like the trans protester slapped at her first. The good thing about the court case is that I hope there will be several uncut versions of the video + witness statements entered into the official record. If it is the case that a trans protester slapped at MacLachlan first, the trans protester was clearly in the wrong. Period.

I, as an American who has experience with managing abortion protestors at clinics, want to see what an official record produces. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen anti-abortion protestors behave exactly like MacLachlan, shoving cameras in people’s faces –as in, hitting us with their cameras– to provoke a response that will be later selectively cut using “explainers” to edit out relevant info, producing propaganda “proving” we violent abortion clinic defenders (they call us “death escorts” or “deathscorts”) really do act like guards at Auschwitz. When everyone is under oath and face criminal repercussions for lying or presenting jump-cut explainer videos edited for social media, I’ll then draw my conclusions.

JingFei

Nope.

‘Tara Wood’ has been charged with ‘assault by beating’ against a 60-year-old woman (Maria MacLachlan).

Plea hearing will take place at Westminster magistrates court on February 15th.

She’s very clear about what she’ll do and why she’ll do it. Here’s what she says in the video:

“I’m quite prepared to threaten violence because it seems to me that politically what they’re seeking to do is piss on all women.”

The what: “I’m quite prepared to threaten violence…”

The why: “… because it seems to me that politically what they’re seeking to do is piss on all women.”

This what and why is exactly, word-for-word what she says in the above video. Pretending otherwise to position this trained boxer and admitted arsonist (who’s own group said they’d endanger life for their politics) is being victimized by the mean-ol’ trans cabal is kinda funny.

Willow

Only if you take two sentences out of context and omit the pause between them. Clever trick that! ‘It seems to me …’ is the start of a new sentence. And as I said before you conveniently miss out the part where she says ‘If any of those bastards come near me’ where those bastards are the people who attacked Maria MacLachlan.

Adria Warren

Does she want the pepper spray or the fuckin knife?

ChloeAlexa Landry

She is an educated woman, only in her, and other ignorant followers, minds. Bullies like to threaten violence, yet run from others, that would threaten them, with the same treatment. Ignorance abounds these days.

pjwhite

She’s a 68 year old black lesbian stating that she is willing to defend herself. So am I. If I see a penis in the locker room with my daughter I will perform instant bottom surgery – free of charge. You have pushed us too far & you have no idea (yet) how stupid that was. I used to be a passionate trans advocate. Not anymore.

From the below quote, type into a reply everything that follows the word, “because”:

I’m quite prepared to threaten violence because it seems to me that politically what they’re seeking to do is piss on all women. That’s what they’re doing for their personal gratification. There aren’t many of them, but what really offends me is the extent to which academia and political parties have listened to them in a way that they’re not listening to us as women.

Christine

Your comma splices are a disaster.

JMS

C’mere and try and thump me you bigoted wench.

pjwhite

White male transwoman threatens violence against a 68 year old black lesbian. This is celebrated as “progressive”. This is how you lose. I used to say “transwomen are women” but the misogynisitic bullying & lying forced me to rethink the nonsense I was spouting. You rose fast, & you will fall fast. I’ve seen this happen before.

Wendy Lev

Its become quite clear transwomen arent women. 🙂

Wendy Lev

See, if a transwoman would say this to me, Id walk away. If you physically harm me, I will report you to police.